Moving On
by totallyblahblahblah
Summary: Jess is trying to move on from Spencer with the help of one roommate; how the Pilot should have ended.
1. Here's to Moving On

"You were right Jess, this movie is pretty good," Nick admitted as he slouched on the couch, drinking a beer while he watched _Dirty Dancing_ with his three roommates.

"Seriously you guys, thank you so much for tonight. That was so cool," said Jess.

Only a few hours ago, Nick, Schmidt and Coach had come to her rescue after she had been stood up on her first date since breaking up with Spencer. Jess hadn't been sure that she was ready to start dating again and was devastated when her date never showed. She had been about to have a break down when her roommates came running into the restaurant to save her. Seeing her on the verge of tears, Nick had begun to sing to her and got Coach and Schmidt to join in. As Jess watched her roommates make fools of themselves in public, she became grateful that she had decided to move in with them.

"Listen Jess, I know you've had a really rough go at it and I just want you to know, that, I mean, for me at least, no matter what, I would still totally do you," Schmidt declared.

"Aw, that's so sweet," said Jess.

"Yeah absolutely," said Schmidt.

"Jar," said Jess, pointing to the douche jar that sat on the bookshelf behind Coach.

"Yeah jar," agreed Nick while Coach grabbed the jar for Schmidt to deposit money into.

Schmidt placed a ten in the jar and got up. "Well clearly I'm not appreciated here so I'm just going to go to bed. Goodnight," he said and headed towards his bedroom.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to call it a night too. See ya," said Coach as he too got up and headed off to bed.

Jess and Nick were now left alone on the couch as the movie ended and the credits began to roll.

"Please tell me you aren't going to watch it again. I might have admitted that it wasn't bad but I definitely don't think I could watch it again," Nick said, turning slightly in his seat towards Jess.

"No, I think I've had enough of _Dirty Dancing_ for a while," Jess laughed. Since she had broken up with Spencer a few weeks ago, she had played the movie on repeat, all day, every day. She had to admit that she was starting to get sick of it.

"Oh, thank God!" Nick laughed as he grabbed the remote and turned off the T.V.

Nick got up and headed to the kitchen. Jess turned on the couch and watched as Nick went to the fridge, grabbed two beers, and headed back to the living room.

"Well I'm sorry that your first foray back into dating was unsuccessful," Nick said, handing a beer to Jess as he sat back down next to her. "That guy was a jerk. You can find someone better."

"Like Schmidt?" Jess laughed, taking a sip of her beer.

"Oh God no. Seriously, anyone but Schmidt," Nick laughed. "Someone who respects you and is excited that he gets to be going out on a date with someone as amazing as you are."

"Thanks Nick," Jess said. She was touched at how nice her new roommate, someone she had only known for a week, was being to her. Jess couldn't think of any other guy she had known that would do for her what Nick had tonight; who would bail on a party, embarrass himself in public and then sit through a girly, romance movie, all just to make her feel better.

Nick and Jess sat silently, as they finished their beers.

"You want another one?" Nick asked as Jess placed her empty bottle on the coffee table.

"Sure."

Nick grabbed the empty bottle and headed back to the kitchen to grab another couple of beers for them. Jess watched as Nick also grabbed a bottle of tequila and a couple of shot glasses and brought them back over to the couch.

"I thought you might need something a little stronger to get over the bad night," Nick said as he placed the bottles and glasses on the table. He took the seat next to Jess on the couch, turning so that he was facing Jess. She turned to so that they were sitting face-to-face.

"Yeah, good thinking, thanks," Jess said as she grabbed the tequila and poured them each a shot. She handed Nick his shot.

"Here's to moving on," Nick said as he held out his shot glass towards Jess.

'To moving on," Jess said clinking her glass with Nick's.

They both took their shot, Jess chasing hers with her beer. Jess poured them each another shot.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" Nick laughed.

"Yes," Jess laughed. "I'm trying to get both of us drunk."

"Fair enough," Nick said as he took his shot with Jess. "I talked to Caroline tonight."

"How did that go?" Jess asked. Only a few days ago, Jess had encouraged Nick to talk to Caroline about why they broke up. Jess thought that not knowing why Caroline broke up with him would eat away at Nick and that he would end up a grumpy old man all alone.

"She said that she didn't know that I even cared about her until she had broken up with me. I guess I've never been any good at expressing my feelings," Nick shrugged as he poured another shot for both of them.

"Well now that you know, you can move on," Jess said, picking up the shot Nick had poured for her.

"Yeah, to moving on," Nick repeated, cheering with Jess.

"To moving on," Jess said quietly as she and Nick took their shots.

Jess suddenly became aware of how close her and Nick were sitting on the couch. They were facing each other, sitting cross-legged, his knees resting on top of hers. Their faces were merely inches from each other and she could feel the warmth of his breath on her face. Jess placed her hands in her lap and looked at Nick. He looked back at her, a small smile on his face. Nick took Jess's hands in his own as he continued to look at her. Jess began to feel butterflies in her stomach. She had this sudden desire to kiss him, but she tried to fight this urge. Sure, Nick was attractive and he treated her better than any of her boyfriends ever had. But, he was her roommate and this was a line that she knew they should not cross.

"I should probably go to bed," Jess said. She thought she should stop this before anything else happened. She liked living in the loft so far and didn't want to cross any lines that would make living here awkward. As she felt the shots begin to set in though, it became harder for her to be responsible and her desire to kiss Nick grew stronger than her desire to keep things in the loft platonic.

"Yeah, me too," Nick said, still holding Jess's hands, not making a move to get up.

Jess looked into Nick's eyes and he leaned into kiss her, pausing an inch away from her. Jess finally gave into her desire, closing the gap between them. The kiss was soft and tender and became more and more passionate. Jess wrapped her arms around Nick's neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the couch. The two rose off the couch and began walking towards the hallway. They came to a stop in between their rooms, breaking from their kiss. Nick looked down at Jess, a look asking "What should we do now?" spreading across his face. Jess kissed him again, grabbing the front of his shirt and dragging him into her room.


	2. Good Morning

Jess woke up with a pounding head and a feeling of regret. She knew she had done something stupid last night but she couldn't quite think of what it was. Afraid to open her eyes and have to face the blinding light of the sun seeping in through her curtains, Jess kept her eyes closed and tried to turn from her side onto her back. It was at this point that Jess became aware of the arm wrapped around her waist.

Nick. She was spooning with Nick. Her roommate was in her bed, spooning her. Images from last night came flooding into her memory. The shots, the kiss, dragging him into her room, ripping their clothes off of each other. The sex. The unbelievably, amazing sex that she had with her roommate. Multiple times. So much for keeping things platonic.

Jess felt Nick loosening his grip on her waist and realized that he was waking up. She opened her eyes and flipped over so that she was laying on her side, facing him.

"Good morning," Jess laughed nervously, biting her lip. She enjoyed last night but was unsure how Nick felt about it. Did he regret it? Was he worried about how this would affect the loft dynamic? Did he want something serious or was this just a one-time thing?

"Good morning," Nick said, smiling at Jess. His arm was still wrapped around her and he began to rub his hand up and down her back. "Well, that was a lot of fun."

"It was," Jess said, returning the smile. She felt a little better. At least she knew that he didn't regret what happened last night.

Nick moved his hand from her back to her cheek and leaned in to kiss her. Jess could faintly taste the tequila from last night still on his lips. His kiss was soft and tender. Jess reached around Nick's neck and ran her hand through his hair. He moved his hand from her face back to her lower back and rolled over so that he was now laying on top of her. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Hey babe, are you in there? How'd your date go last night? Can I come in?" Jess heard Cece outside of her room.

"Ugh, just a minute Cece." Jess panicked. She looked up at Nick who looked as equally panicked as she felt. Jess pushed Nick off of her. He fell off the bed, landing on his butt on the floor. Jess got off the bed and pulled Nick's arm, trying to help him up off the floor. "Quick, get in the closet."

Jess grabbed her robe off the hook on the back of the door and threw it on. She waited until Nick was safely hidden in the closet before she opened up the door.

"Hey Cece! How'd you get in here?" Jess greeted her best friend as she opened up her bedroom door.

"Schmidt let me in. So how was the date? Tell me everything."

"Well it didn't happen. He stood me up. The guys had to come to the restaurant and save me," Jess said recalling the events from last night. She walked back over to her bed, pulling the covers up and sitting down on her bed.

"So then who did you have sex with?" Cece asked as she walked over and took the seat next to Jess.

"No one. Didn't you just hear me? He didn't show up," Jess said, avoiding Cece's gaze, a hint of panic in her voice. She wasn't ashamed that she slept with Nick, she just didn't want everyone to know before her and Nick had a chance to talk about it.

"Come on Jess. It's me. I know you better than anyone. I know when you've had sex. Plus, your sex hair and the men's clothing lying on your floor aren't helping you to hide anything from me," Cece said.

"Um…" Jess's heart began pounding. What should she say? How was she going to cover this up from her best friend? Jess was relieved when she was interrupted by a knock at her door. She looked up and saw Schmidt leaning in her doorway.

"Hey, Jess, do you know where Nick is? His bed looks like it hasn't been slept in. Did he go out after Coach and I went to bed?" Schmidt asked.

Jess saw Cece's eyes light up out of the corner of her eye. Quickly, Jess got up and walked over to Schmidt.

"No I don't know where Nick is, now get out," Jess said pushing Schmidt out into the hall and slamming the door closed before he could get a glimpse of the knowing expression that was now spreading across Cece's face.

Jess turned back around and caught Cece heading over to the closet.

"Cece, no…" Jess tried to stop Cece from finding Nick but it was too late. Cece had already slid Jess's closet door open as was face to face with a naked Nick. Nick look horrified. Jess clasped her hand over her eyes and slumped down onto her bed, leaning up against the headboard.

"Oh. My. God. How did this happen?" Cece asked, turning back around and sitting down at the foot of Jess's bed face.

Nick walked out of the closet and picked up his boxers and t-shirt off the floor. He swiftly threw them on before sitting down next to Jess at the head of the bed.

Jess and Nick took turns telling Cece about how the guys sang to Jess in the restaurant, how the four of them watched _Dirty Dancing_, how Nick and Jess stayed up drinking after their other two roommates went to bed and how they eventually ended up kissing and in Jess's bedroom.

"So what does this mean?" Cece asked as they finished up the story.

Jess looked at Nick. He looked back and shrugged. Jess could tell from the expression on his face that he wasn't about to discuss what was going on between them in front of Cece.

"I don't know," Jess confessed, turning back to look at Cece. Despite the fact that she hadn't even talked to Nick about this yet, Jess herself wasn't even sure what she wanted. She had enjoyed last night. It was the best sex she had ever had. But, did she want something serious with Nick? After all, she'd only known Nick for a week. That really wasn't enough time to know if she wanted to be in a relationship with someone.

"Okay, well I think I should leave you two alone now," Cece said getting up and heading to the door. Jess was thankful that Cece always knew when it was time to leave an awkward situation.

"Before you go Cece, we'd appreciate it if you didn't let Schmidt and Coach know. They'd freak out if they knew. Especially Schmidt," Nick said.

"Yeah, of course, I promise to not tell anyone. I can distract Schmidt and Coach too so that you can sneak out of here" Cece said to Nick.

"Yeah, thanks, that would be helpful," Nick said.

"Thanks Cece," Jess said getting up and hugged her best friend.

Cece opened up the door and walked out. Jess heard Cece walk into the living room and ask Schmidt and Coach to help her out with her car. Jess waited for the three of them to leave the apartment before turning back to Nick.

"Well, the coast is clear," Jess said.

"I should probably head to my room now so that we don't get caught," Nick said, gathering the rest of his clothes from the floor. Jess looked carefully at his face, trying to read his facial expression. She thought that she saw a bit of sadness on his face, like he wasn't quite ready to head back to his room.

Nick walked to the door, stopping in front of Jess. He leaned down and kissed her softy on the lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he grabbed her waist, pulling her tighter into his embrace. After several minutes, he pulled away. Still holding her around the waist, he looked down at her, staring her straight in the eyes as Jess moved her arms from around his neck down to his arms. He removed one hand from her waist to gently brush the hair out of her face. Without saying a word, he let her go and walked across the hall to his room, turning around and smiling at Jess before closing the door.


	3. Going Away Party

Jess avoided Nick for the rest of the day. She wasn't sure what she wanted with him and didn't want to talk to him until she had figured things out. She decided the best thing to do would be to hide out in her room until she was ready to talk to Nick, that way she could avoid any awkward encounters with him.

Jess was torn about what she wanted with Nick. She was attracted to him and their night together was amazing; it was the best sex she had ever had. She had only known him a week so she didn't feel as though she was ready to jump into a relationship with him, but maybe they could go on a date. She wouldn't mind continuing to keep something causal with him if that meant she got to continue sleeping with him. However, she couldn't just ignore the fact that they were roommates. If they started dating and then broke up, she would still have to see him every day. Or one of them would have to move out, ruining the loft dynamic. If they wanted to continue having sex casually, they would have to keep it from Schmidt and Coach which might be hard. She could just tell him it was a onetime thing, but she would still see him around the apartment every day and she would have to control herself. She honestly didn't think she'd be able to keep her hands off of him now that they had already slept together and knew how good it was.

The next morning, Jess woke up still undecided about what she wanted with Nick. She had to go to work though, so she was forced to leave her room and risk running into him. She was thankful that he was still sleeping when she left for work. Now she could put off the conversation until that evening.

When the end of the school day came, Jess still hadn't made a decision. Not wanting to go home and face Nick, she decided to go shopping. She thought that an afternoon being distracted by clothes would help her to decide how she felt about Nick. She wasn't surprised though a few hours later when she still felt as unsure about Nick as she had been earlier. Realizing that she couldn't keep avoiding him, Jess decided that she would just agree to whatever he wanted and headed home, ready to face Nick. However, when she returned home, he had already left for work and she fell asleep before he came home.

It was the same thing all week. Nick was still sleeping when Jess left for work and he was gone for his evening shifts at the bar by the time she got home, not returning before Jess had gone to bed.

Friday, Jess came home from school knowing that she and Nick were going to have to talk about what was going on between them at some point this weekend. She entered the loft and was greeted by Schmidt and Coach in the living room. Schmidt was sitting on the couch and Coach was pacing back and forth in front of the TV.

"Hey Jess I have something to tell all of you. Do you have a minute?" Coach called over to Jess, continuing to pace back and forth in the living room.

"Yeah sure, what's up?" Jess said, dropping her bags next to the couch and taking a seat next to Schmidt.

"I have some news but I want to wait for Nick to get off the phone so I can tell you all together," Coach said as he stopped pacing in front of the hallway and looked anxiously over at Nick's closed bedroom door.

"He's been acting anxious ever since he got home, I'm not sure what's going on. I don't know if I should be worried or not," Schmidt whispered to Jess as the two of them watched Coach who had started pacing the living room again.

"Guess who I was just on the phone with. Winston!" Nick said excitedly as he came out of his room several minutes later. Jess looked over at him and her stomach began doing somersaults. She hadn't even seen him since Sunday morning, when he left her room and kissed her before retreating to his own room for the day. All she could think about was their night together and how badly she wanted to sleep with him again.

"Who's Winston?" Jess asked, trying to stay calm and normal.

"Winston was our fourth roommate but he left to go play basketball in Latvia. He just called to say he's coming back to the states, he's moving back to L.A." Nick said, avoiding Jess's gaze and looking at Schmidt and Coach instead.

"Winston's coming back? Awesome, where's he going to stay?" Schmidt asked, oblivious to the awkwardness between Nick and Jess.

"He can have my room," Coach said. "That's my news, I was offered an amazing job in Santa Monica and I took it. I start Monday, I'm moving Sunday."

Coach looked at his three roommates, waiting for them to say something but Jess, Nick and Schmidt all just stared at him.

"When did you find out?" Schmidt asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Well I had applied for the job last week but they just got back to me this afternoon and asked me to start on Monday. I hadn't wanted to say anything to you guys unless I actually got it. I'm sorry for such short notice."

"No man, it's alright, we understand, you have to do what you have to do. I'm going to miss you though," Schmidt got up, walking over to Coach and hugging him.

"Yeah, I'm going to miss you too," Nick said, joining the guys in a group hug.

"Hey, why don't we have a going away party tonight? That way you have a chance to say goodbye to everyone and have one last crazy night together," Jess suggested as she watched her roommates hug each other.

"Yeah, let's have a party," Schmidt said pulling away from Nick and Coach.

"Sure," Coach said, letting go of Nick and Schmidt. "But if we have a crazy night tonight, I'm going to need y'all to help me pack up tomorrow."

"Deal," said Nick.

In just a few hours, the four roommates called up their friends and Coach's coworkers, went out and bought plenty of booze and food, and cleaned up the apartment before people started arriving for the party. With so much going on to get ready for their impromptu party, Jess had been able to avoid Nick. With all the people that were going to be in their apartment that night, she was pretty sure that she would be able to continue to avoid him until tomorrow.

Jess had about 20 minutes before guests were supposed to arrive so she headed to her room to change and freshen up her make-up. Jess was applying her mascara when her bedroom door opened and Cece walked in.

"Hey love. How are you?" Cece said, plopping down on Jess's bed. Cece had had a big shoot all week so Jess hadn't had a chance to talk to her about Nick yet.

"I'm alright," Jess said.

"Did you talk to Nick yet?" Cece asked.

Jess opened up and told Cece everything she was feeling about Nick and how confused she was. Cece sat in silence and listened to Jess pour her heart out about her roommate.

"I just don't know what I want," Jess declared.

'It sounds to me like you do know what you want. You're just afraid to admit it to yourself," Cece said. She stared at Jess, waiting for her to admit what she wanted. After several minutes of silence, Jess finally gave in.

"I want to keep having sex with Nick," Jess confessed. "So what do I do?"

"You put on something hot, you spend the night flirting with Nick, and he won't be able to resist taking you into his room at the end of the night," Cece said, standing up and heading over to Jess's closet to pick out something for her to wear. "Here, this should do."

Cece was holding up a little red dress. It was a strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline and a flowing skirt that fell just above Jess's knees. It was one of Jess's favorite dresses but she never really had an occasion to wear it. She grabbed it out of Cece's hands, stepping out of the dress she had been wearing all day and putting the red dress on. She let Cece do her make-up and she curled her hair into loose curls that fell softly over her shoulders. She completed the outfit with a simple pair of gold stud earrings.

By the time Jess and Cece left her room, there was a decent amount of guests filling up the loft. Jess walked away from Cece who was starting a conversation with Schmidt and towards the kitchen where she saw Nick standing next to the fridge talking to a woman. The woman was short and lean. Jess could tell from the definition of the woman's leg and arm muscles that she was a trainer at Coach's gym. Jess saw Nick laugh at something the woman said as he touched her gently on the arm. Jess's heart fell to her stomach.

She was a little jealous even though she knew she had no right to be. She slept with Nick once. He wasn't her boyfriend. He was just her roommate. He was free to talk to whoever he wanted to.

Jess's eyes were still on Nick's and she saw him look over the trainer's shoulder and he made eye contact with Jess. He gave her a friendly smile and she watched him excuse himself from the conversation with the woman. Nick opened up the fridge, grabbed two beers and walked over to Jess.

"You look amazing. Absolutely beautiful" Nick said smiling as he handed one of the beers to Jess.

"Thank you," Jess said, returning the smile. She could feel herself blushing slightly at his compliment. She just wasn't used to men telling her she was beautiful. In fact, she was pretty sure the only man who had ever told her she was beautiful before was her father. "So, are you excited that Winston's coming back?"

"Yeah. Winston and I have been friends since we were kids. He knows me better than anyone else. I missed having him around," Nick admitted.

"Well, I'm looking forward to meeting him," Jess said. "Do you think he'll like me?"

"As long as you don't sing so much I think you'll get along well with him," Nick said laughing.

"He'll get used to my singing and come to love it like you and Schmidt have," Jess said, laughing.

"I tolerate your singing," Nick said, still laughing.

"You'll love it eventually," Jess said.

"Yeah, maybe," Nick said, resting his arm on Jess's shoulder and looking down at her.

Jess looked up at Nick, making eye contact with him, her heart racing. She desperately wanted to kiss him and sneak off to her room with him. She controlled herself though, knowing that she shouldn't risk doing anything in front of their other roommates. There was also the fear that he only thought of last weekend as a one-time thing that stopped her from making a move on him.

"We should probably talk about last weekend," Jess eventually said. Someone was going to have to start the conversation and it might as well be her.

"Yeah. But, not here. I have an idea, come with me." Nick took his arm off of Jess's shoulder and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the front door. Nick walked out to the hallway and to the staircase that led to the roof. He continued to hold her hand as they walked up the stairs and out onto the roof. Nick led Jess to a couple of lounge chairs and let go of her hand as he sat down in one of the chairs. He grabbed the chair next to him and moved it so that it was in front of him, motioning at it for Jess to sit down across from him. Jess sat down and Nick took her hands in his own.

"Jess, I like you, I like having you around. And I had fun last weekend." Nick said.

"I had fun last weekend too," Jess said.

"So then, why don't we keep having fun?" Nick suggested. "I don't know what this is between us but, clearly, we're both attracted to each other and we have fun together, so why stop?"

"Okay, let's keep having fun," Jess said smiling. Jess was happy with this idea. She would be able to keep having sex with Nick. If something more where to come out of it, great. If not, it wouldn't ruin the dynamics in the loft.

"Really?" Nick asked. He looked a little surprised by her answer but also thrilled that she had said yes to his proposition.

"Yeah," Jess laughed at his reaction. "We should probably try to hide it from our roommates though. At least for now."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

Nick leaned in to kiss Jess. She threw her arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her off of her chair and onto his lap. She moved her hands into his hair and he moved his arms from around her waist to her legs, rubbing her thighs. He kissed her forcefully and passionately. She wanted him right there and then but thought better of it. Not wanting to bring attention to her and Nick's casual relationship, she knew that they needed to head back to the party before their roommates realized they were gone and became suspicious.

"We should probably head downstairs before Schmidt and Coach realize that we're missing," Jess said, pulling away from Nick, her hands still running through his hair.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Nick said, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her neck, not making a move to get up and head back downstairs. Jess enjoyed being in Nick's arms and his kisses for a little bit longer.

"Alright, we really need to go back downstairs now," Jess said, taking her hands out of his hair and unwrapping his arms from around her waist. She stood up and held out her hand to Nick. He took her hand and stood up, placing a kiss on top of her head before they headed back down to the loft.

Jess and Nick were able to sneak back into the loft without anyone realizing that they had been gone for nearly 20 minutes. They continued to mingle among the guests, occasionally sneaking off to the bathroom to steal a kiss.

As guests began to head out for the night, Jess let Nick hang out with Schmidt and Coach as she and Cece started to clean up a little bit. The guys were in the living room with some of the trainers from Coach's gym and Cece and Jess were alone in the kitchen, putting away the leftover food.

"So, what happened when you and Nick snuck out of the party for 20 minutes?" Cece whispered to Jess.

"You noticed?" Jess asked.

"Yeah I noticed. But don't worry, Schmidt and Coach were too wrapped up in the party to realize you two were missing. So spill, what happened?"

"We talked about last weekend. We're going to keep sleeping together since we're having fun," Jess whispered back so that the guys didn't overhear. She looked over at Nick in the living room. He was looking at her, smiling. She smiled back.

"That's great. I'm so happy for you," Cece said.

"But we don't want anyone else to know so don't tell anyone," Jess said, turning back to Cece.

"Yeah, of course, mum's the word," Cece said, pretending to lock her lips and throw away the key.

Jess and Cece continued to clean up as the rest of the guests left. Schmidt had snuck off to his room with a girl so Jess, Cece, Coach and Nick were left to finish cleaning up the rest of the party themselves. After about half an hour, they decided the loft was decent enough and that they could just leave the rest for Schmidt to clean up in the morning. Cece left for the night and Coach headed off to bed, leaving Jess and Nick alone in the living room.

"Ready for bed?" Nick asked Jess holding out his hand to her. Jess grabbed his hand and let him lead her into his room.


	4. Maybe It's A Sign

Jess woke up with a smile on her face. Her head was resting on Nick's chest and he had one arm wrapped around her shoulder, the other around her waist. Last night he had told her that he wanted to continue having fun and they had another memorable night.

"Good morning," she heard Nick say. Jess looked up and was greeted by his smiling face looking back down at her.

"Good morning," Jess said reaching up and kissing him on the lips.

"So I'll take that to mean you're not regretting our agreement," Nick laughed nervously.

"Of course not," Jess said smiling, trying to comfort him. She shifted so that she was now laying completely on top of him. She laid soft kisses on his neck and down his chest.

"NICK," Jess heard Coach yelling from the hallway.

Before she had a chance to get off of Nick and hide, Coach had opened up Nick's door. Jess saw a look of surprise and horror on Coach's face as she scrambled to climb off of Nick and cover herself up in his sheets.

"How do we keep getting caught?" Nick exclaimed as he sat up in his bed, putting his head in his hands and resting against the wall.

"What do you mean _keep_ getting caught?" Coach asked, clearly surprised at Nick's initial reaction to getting caught.

Jess sat up, resting on Nick as the two explained to Coach about that first night, how Cece caught them and the decision they came to the night before. Coach took up a seat at Nick's desk as he sat and listened on, visibly shocked at what had been going on in the loft for the past week.

"Please say something," Nick said after a few minutes had passed and Coach had yet to say anything.

"Actually, I'm not that surprised," Coach finally said.

"Really? You're not?" Nick said, obviously in a state of disbelief.

"Well I've noticed you two checking each other out," Coach responded.

"I haven't been checking Nick out!" Jess cried out, defending herself.

"Was there a reason you barged in here?" Nick asked, changing the subject before Coach had a chance to retort back.

"Yeah, you need to help me pack up and load the moving truck. Remember you promised you would help last night."

"Yeah I remember," Nick replied. "Just give me like ten minutes and I'll meet you in your room. Go ahead and get started without me."

"Okay, thanks. By the way, Schmidt still isn't back and he's not answering his phone so it might be just the three of us packing me up," Coach said as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Nick leaned over the side of his bed to grab his boxers and t-shirt, pulling them both on as Jess climbed out of bed, searching for her clothes that had been thrown somewhere in Nicks room the night before.

"I'm really sorry about that." Jess could tell from the tone of his voice that Nick was worried about what had just happened.

"Don't worry about that Nick," Jess said trying to console him. She threw on her dress and walked over to Nick who was throwing on a pair of sweats and rubbed his arm. "It's not your fault that Coach walked in on us."

"I know. It's just that we were going to keep this a secret and it's barely been a week and already two of our friends know. Maybe it's a sign," Nick suggested.

"What do you mean a sign?" Jess asked, taking a step back to look at Nick. He seemed to be suggesting that the fact that two of their friends found out their secret within the first week was a sign that they should stop, that this just wasn't meant to be.

"A sign that we should stop," Nick said, confirming Jess's fear.

"Do you really think that?"

"I don't know. Maybe. No. Not really," Nick mumbled. "It's just…never mind."

"Never mind what?" Jess asked. Jess looked intently at Nick. It seemed like there was something he wanted to say but was refraining from opening up to let Jess know what he was really thinking.

"Forget it. We need to go help Coach," Nick said, walking past Jess, out of his room and down the hall to Coach's. Jess stood there for a minute, dumbstruck by Nick's reaction. She eventually left Nick's room, walking across the hall into her own room to change out of her dress and into jeans and an old t-shirt. She wondered what Nick was thinking. Was it possible that he was regretting their arrangement now that their friends were finding out? Jess tried to push all thoughts of Nick and what was going on between them out of her mind as she joined the boys in Coach's room.

Coach, Nick and Jess spent the afternoon packing up Coach's room in silence, breaking the silence occasionally only to ask how to pack things or where things went. Jess avoided Nick as much as she could, though admittedly, was difficult in the tight confines of Coach's room.

Schmidt finally returned back home late in the afternoon, when the room was practically completely packed up.

"I need to go pick up the truck, who wants to drive me?" Coach asked once his entire room was packed up.

"I'll go," Nick volunteered immediately. Jess was a little disappointed that Nick was so quick to jump at the opportunity to leave the loft. She felt as though he was avoiding her; avoiding the inevitable conversation that was to come after the incident earlier this morning. She was upset at how quickly things had turned around. Last night they were having fun and now things were just so confusing and messed up. Was Nick regretting sleeping with her? Did he regret their arrangement?

After an hour, Coach and Nick returned with the truck. The four loft mates packed up the truck with Coach's belongings. Jess said goodbye to Coach and then headed back into the loft, giving the three close friends the time to properly say goodbye to each other. She headed into her room to grab her students' papers.

After some time, there was a soft knock at the door.

"Just a minute!" Jess called as she put down the papers she was marking. She opened up the door to find Nick.

"Hey!"

"Hey," Jess said, waiting for Nick to reply back. When he continued to just stand there, not saying anything, she realized that she would have to be the one to initiate a conversation.

"So is Coach gone?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's gone. Schmidt followed him to help him unpack. He'll be back tomorrow afternoon, so we'll have the apartment to ourselves."

"Okay," Jess said. As they stood in an awkward silence, Jess decided that she would just bring up what had happened earlier. "Nick, we should probably talk about what happened this morning," she said, motioning for him to come in, closing the door behind him as he walked further into her room.

"Look, Jess, I'm not the kind of guy who talks about my feelings. I kind of freaked out this morning and I don't know why? And I don't really want to talk about it either. I did mean what I said last night though. I'm having fun with you and I don't want to stop. I'm sorry for the way I acted today."

"It's okay Nick, don't worry about it. I'm having fun too," Jess said, standing up on her tip toes to kiss him on the forehead. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back as the two walked towards her bed, falling on top as they started to rip their clothes off of each other.

They hadn't really solved anything or addressed what they were thinking about their friends finding out. Jess knew that they would eventually have to address this. However, for now, she was fine with just having fun with Nick.


End file.
